


the hours of realizing things

by jingi



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Established Friendship, M/M, not really skating au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 04:51:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9419549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jingi/pseuds/jingi
Summary: Yuri isn't much of a romantic. Still, figuring out feelings on midnight trips to CVS seems a bit weird even for him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i am too lazy/pressed for time/scared to write longer & more quality things for now but . for a while i've been wanting to write smth based on kait rokowski's poem (here http://kaitrokowski.tumblr.com/post/59453081006/how-the-cynic-falls-in-love) and i did yay

Today wasn’t even that bad compared to how the winter had been on average. No snow or other too-cold precipitation, and Yuri’s hair didn’t freeze at all when he went outside shortly after showering. Apparently the air was still cold enough, or it had been a little bit too windy. 

“Here,” Yuri says as he passes a steaming mug over to Otabek, because even though Otabek is the slightly better cook between the two of them he can’t be bothered to make himself a drink he needs. “Honey tea tastes good even if you insist that you’re not coughing and not sick and don’t have a sore throat.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Otabek puts it down on the coffee table. It’s too hot to drink right now anyways. “What movie do you wanna watch?”

“You pick. Not action though. I’m too tired for that right now.” 

“Okay.” 

It’s one of their movie nights at Otabek’s apartment. They eat, often takeout from that one Chinese place that isn’t terribly authentic but still tastes good, and watch whatever. Yuri comments throughout the movie, whether it’s the foreign art film that feels like it’s sometimes trying too hard or the action movie where the building destruction scenes are too drawn out. Otabek’s couch is comfortable and hard to get up from once you sit down on it. Quiet and leisurely. Yuri welcomes these breaks.

Otabek picks a Korean movie that’s set a few centuries back and has something to do with war. It’s long but pretty good. The fight scenes aren’t ridiculously choreographed, and the bits of romance aren’t cringey or gratuitous. What stops Yuri from fully enjoying it is that Otabek keeps coughing throughout, and even though it’s quiet Yuri can tell that he’s coughing more and more.

“Would you just admit you’re sick?”

Otabek looks at him kind of funnily. Yuri doesn’t know why; it’s not like this is the first time he’s somewhat yelled at Otabek like this.

“Okay. Maybe I’m not feeling my best. But I’m not dying either. It’s fine.”

“But it’s also not that hard to take a damn pill or whatever.” Yuri walks over to the kitchen and starts opening cabinets. “Where do you keep that shit?”

“Uh.” 

Yuri looks back over at Otabek, who’s wiping a bit of sweat off his brow. Sneaky, doing it when Yuri wasn’t next to him, but he still got caught. “Are you telling me you don’t even have basic, like, allergy pills? Antihistamines or aspirin or common cold medicine?”  
Otabek looks kind of sheepish. “I don’t really get sick?”

“God.” Yuri slams a cabinet a little too hard. “Lie the fuck down. I’m gonna go get some stuff. BRB.”

“You don’t have to. Just go home since it’s kinda late.”

“It’s not for you only,” Yuri says. “I want a bag of candy. Maybe like three. And I can stock your nonexistent medicine cabinet since I’ll be at CVS anyways.” 

Otabek opens his mouth to say something but violently sneezes instead, rather proving Yuri’s point. He wordlessly gives up and lies down, seeming to acknowledge that he can’t really stop Yuri from doing whatever he wants.

 

\---

 

The CVS is only about ten minutes walking distance from Otabek’s apartment, but Yuri forgot how much farther it feels when you walk somewhere in the dark and no one else is really around. Cars whoosh by on the streets, but there’s almost no people on the sidewalks. He didn’t even realize it was past 1 AM until he looked at his phone when plugging in his earbuds. He’s not really tired and CVS is open 24 hours, so it doesn’t really bother him. It’s just not something he does too often, taking walks past midnight.

Yuri spends more time looking at the candy than at over-the-counter medicine. He just threw a combination of basic stuff from cold medicine to Pepto Bismol into a shopping basket, but deciding between regular gummy bears and Swedish fish requires more thinking on his part. It doesn’t help that he’s distracted still by wondering _how_ Otabek could seem like a perfectly functioning and responsible adult but not have something so essential to normal living. If not for Yuri, Otabek would probably be lying down convincing himself that he wasn’t sick between coughing and sneezing breaks. 

Frustrated, Yuri tosses gummy bears, Swedish fish, and Sour Patch Kids into his basket and walks to the only checkout line open. There’s one man in front of him checking out, shuffling through his wallet quickly and dropping a few coins on the ground as he fishes out the right card to use.

“Sorry!” he says to the cashier as he bends down to pick them up. “It’s just that my daughter is really sick and I have to get back as fast as I can.”

“Oh no, I hope everything’s alright,” the cashier replies. “What a loving father, coming out here to buy medicine at such a late time.”

“Of course,” the man says. His credit card’s gone through by now and the cashier’s packed his bag for him. “Have a good night!” He rushes out the door. 

Yuri looks at his own odd assortment of items on the conveyor belt. He too is here at a late hour buying medicine for someone he cares about. Otabek, his best friend. But he’s never had a friend that he’s gone out to buy medicine for, especially when almost everything is closed.

The cashier scans the gummy bears, and Yuri thinks harder about why he got them. He’d had slivers of these thoughts before, but he hadn’t really put them together. Maybe he just didn’t know how to admit it to himself. He didn’t really like the taste of gummy bears in comparison with other snacks, but they tasted better when they reminded him of someone. Or maybe he just wanted someone else to like getting them.

Briefly, Yuri imagines hugging Otabek for longer than usual and wonders how he would feel about it. Imagines Otabek kissing him and thinks about whether he would like it. The answer is easier than he thought. _Oh._

The credit card reader beeps when Yuri doesn’t remove his card right away. “Receipt in the bag?” the cashier asks, and Yuri nods his head a little belatedly. 

He walks outside back into the cool air, and he shivers a bit from the temperature change and from the little ball of energy that’s formed in his chest. He lets himself think about it longer. Otabek, yes. So this is liking someone. Someone who he’s already close to. It’s hard to keep it in.

The night is too quiet for him. He pulls out his phone. Three rings and the call connects.

“Beka?”

A slight rustle, maybe just his breath. “Yura?”

Yuri pauses, takes a few steps faster. “I think. I like you. _Like_ you.”

Silence on the other end. Not necessarily unusual for Otabek, but Yuri’s heart is pounding faster than he’d like. 

A sneeze on the other end. “Well, I’ve liked you probably since the first time we met. Took you long enough.”

“Oh.” It’s Yuri’s turn to be quiet. He hopes no one can see his grin or red cheeks in the dark. 

“Don’t fall asleep yet. You have to take some medicine. And gummy bears.”

“I’ll keep the door open for you.”

The call ends, and Yuri keeps walking faster, the contents of the CVS bag crinkling together in his hand.


End file.
